Deputies Respond To Claims Of Police Brutality

Published August 8th, 2014

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OCALA, Fla. -- A video claiming to catch police brutality on tape is getting a lot of attention online. It shows Marion County Sheriff's Deputies tasering and arresting a father who was allegedly trying to help them communicate with his autistic son.

The original video posted by a self-proclaimed watchdog group known as Florida Cop Watch shows a man being taken down and tasered by Marion County Sheriff's deputies. It has been seen and shared tens of thousands of times on their facebook page. The Marion County Sheriff's Office has now issued an official public statement.

Now the Sheriff's Office also released dashcam video from the incident saying there's much more to the story. The original 30 second video was compiled of clips taken during an incident back in May when a father showed up at a traffic stop at the call of his autistic son. But the 30 second clip shows only part of the 30 minutes captured on the deputy's dashcam.

In the full dashcam video, you can see 60-year-old Roy Sherman arriving at the scene of the traffic stop. When the deputy asked Sherman to drive away and he wouldn't leave, the deputy tries to place him under arrest for obstruction of an investigation.

Sherman won't get out of his truck, and tries to drive away with the deputy still standing there.

If you compare the dashcam video to Florida Cop Watch's video, almost 4 minutes pass between the first clip and the third clip, while Sherman continues to argue with the deputy, screaming and using profanity.

When backup arrives, and he still refuses to get out of his car, Sherman is tased. The Sheriff's Office released a statement, along with the incident report, explaining what led the deputy to use a taser.

Sherman was arrested and charged with assault on a law enforcement officer, and two counts of resisting arrest without violence.

Florida Cop Watch claims their video was not intentionally edited, but rather Sherman's son - who recorded the video - only shot those three short clips that were then put together in one video.

Sherman appeared in court Thursday. He pleaded not guilty to these charges and plans to represent himself in court. He didn't want to speak to TV20 on camera, but told our reporter he will be speaking publicly in a press conference about the matter on Saturday.